Life and Labor at Habitation la Caroline, French Guiana

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeologies of Enslavement" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Habitation la Caroline - a 19th c. spice plantation in upland French Guiana - was run by the labor of over 100 enslaved people at abolition in 1848. This paper presents results from survey and excavation undertaken in the slave village of this plantation in 2018, which was the first in-depth study of a 19th c. domestic quarter for enslaved Africans in this region. Both circum-Caribbean and Amazonian, French Guiana offers an interesting context in which to explore labor, space, and identity. Surface survey at la Caroline in 2016 revealed a strict spatial organization in the slave village. The most recent field season aimed to clarify the spatial layout and discern any differences in household construction and use of space. Results raise questions about the material signature of labor in French Guiana and the potential of household studies to illuminate the spatiality and sociality of daily life for enslaved individuals.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2019   •
• Archaeologies of Enslavement

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 434